William Richard Townsend (6B31)

Date of Birth: 1870
Date of Death: 28 Nov 1917
Generation: 8th
Residence: West Africa
Father: Professor Edward (Iney) Townsend [6B20]
Mother: Judith Eleanor Anne Townsend [372]
Spouse:
  1. Townsend, Emily Mabel [6A24]
Issue:
  1. Major Edward William Maunsell [6B43]
See Also: Table VIB ; Scrapbook ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree

Notes for William Richard Townsend

Married 1907. Emily Mabel Townsend [6A24] was the youngest daughter of Richard Horatio Townsend [6A10] of Garrycloyne Castle, Co Cork.

William was born in Galway and studied at Trinity College, Dublin. Page 481 of the Dublin University Calendar 1893 records that he qualified BA in 1893. Robert Ponsonby Townshend [5C03], Edward Hume Townsend [642], Arthur Humphrey Townsend [6C17] and Richard's brothers Edwin Hotham Townsend [6B29] and John Sealy Townsend [6B30] were undergraduates at the same time.

Following his graduation Richard joined the Colonial Service. It appears that he spent his working life in West Africa but it is not known where he was stationed prior to 1902 when he was appointed a Member of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council of the Colony of the Gambia (1). In 1907 he was appointed Chief Magistrate of the Gambia (2) but twenty two months later was appointed Circuit Judge in the Protectorate of Sierra Leone and Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of the Colony (3). His last appointment before his death was Attorney General of the Gold Coast (4).

The April 1901 Irish Census records William, aged 31, as a 'Practising Barrister at Law' and living at house 7 in Town Parks, Galway West, Galway, with his mother Judith Townsend [372].

William was drowned on 28 November 1917 when the ship in which he was sailing was torpedoed in the Irish Sea.

A book he wrote 'Reminiscences of the Hon. William Richard Townsend,: Late Attorney-General of the Gold Coast' was published posthumously in 1919.

(1) London Gazette 27478 page 6209 dated 30 September 1902.

(2) London Gazette 27987 page 394 dated 18 January 1907.

(3) London Gazette 28188 page 7639 dated 23 October 1908.

(4) London Gazette 28664 page 8460 dated 19 November 1912.